Thank you, premiers Wakeham and Fréchette. Elected officials, ministers, Grand Chief Ashini, leaders of the Innu Nation of Labrador, friends, colleagues – this is a truly historic day, and I’m going to speak to the leadership that’s been demonstrated by those behind me.

I want to begin, as many conversations here do, by talking about the weather.

After all, the provincial anthem “An Ode to Newfoundland” celebrates the weather:

When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
And wild waves lash thy strand,
Thro’ spindrift swirl, and tempest roar,
We love thee windswept land.

There’s a message in that, and a message that’s demonstrated today.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians don’t just endure the tempest’s roar; they embrace it.

They don’t submit to the weather; they thrive in it.

Today is about much more than embracing or thriving.

Today, you see three governments, you see four peoples, coming together to “‘make the weather.”

Making the weather means not being hostage to fate, not waiting to see which way the wind is blowing and ending up storm-tossed by events.

Making the weather means building the future that we want. It means being masters in our own home.

These words from Jean Lesage articulate a vision that inspired Québecers to shape their own future.

A few years later, at the launch of the James Bay project, Robert Bourassa said this: “Let it not be said that we lived poorly on land so rich.”

Québecers rose to the challenge. They built and secured their own prosperity.

They built James Bay. They built transmission lines over distances that once seemed impossible. Hydro-Québec became an international benchmark in hydroelectricity and trained generations of engineers and workers whose expertise is recognised around the world.

Québecers were not content to accept their fate. They built their future.

Québec knows how to take matters into its own hands.

Once again, extraordinary opportunities are within its reach.

Once again, our ambition must live up to it.

It’s our turn to demonstrate that same ambition, that same courage, and build a Canada strong that works for us all.

We have much to learn from this history.

Canada has built big before. The ambitions of James Bay and the original Churchill Falls were dizzying, the technical challenges immense, the scale unprecedented.

Today, we are coming together, determined to build on that greatness.

To develop the biggest clean energy initiative in North American history.

To power tomorrow’s economy.

To strengthen Canada’s place in the world.

To give ourselves more than any other nation can take away.

Because when we work together, there is nothing that Canada cannot do.

We are living at a time of great disruption.

Every Canadian is feeling the economic impacts – at our kitchen tables, at the pumps, on the factory floors.

And we are all experiencing the changing climate – the smoke that is blanketing our nation, the flames that are threatening our homes, and the extreme weather that is becoming all too common, while reshaping livelihoods.

Canadians won’t simply endure these challenges. We will meet them with determined action.

We are starting from a position of strength, because Canada has what the world wants.

The natural resources, the critical minerals, the clean power that will build this century.

We have the workers who will bring this vision to life.

The leaders who understand what’s possible when we build together.

And we have another thing – we have trust. The most valuable commodity in an increasingly volatile, unreliable world.

We have everything we need to build the future that we want and that our children deserve.

We have everything we need to “make the weather.”

We are gathered here to announce a historic deal: the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Premier of Québec, the leaders of Hydro-Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, in full partnership with the newly elected Grand Chief of the Innu Nation of Labrador, Jodie Ashini.

As part of this agreement, the federal government will guarantee the financing for the massive Gull Island power project as part of a new Atlantic Energy Strategy under the Major Projects Office. As part of this agreement, we will co-invest alongside the Innu Nation in the enormous Labrador onshore wind project.

And as part of this agreement, the Government of Canada will help finance the new transmission lines that will link this clean energy to users in Labrador and Québec.

Because yes, we love these windswept lands.

This is the largest clean energy investment in North American history, tripling the current generating capacity of Churchill Falls to 14,000 megawatts of renewable power.

That is more than the entire generating capacity of BC Hydro. It’s more than double the output of Bruce Power, the largest nuclear plant on this continent.

It is the equivalent of 18 Hoover Dams in America, at its current operating capacity.

It will generate enough power to light, heat, and cool all the homes in Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver combined.

To provide the power we need to run the mines, the mills, and the factory floors where Canadians will build their future.

This is nation-building investment on the scale of the Trans-Canada Highway and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

In terms of scale, it’s the next James Bay.

For fifty years, this project has shown what Canada can achieve when it chooses to build big.

Yes, we are building once again.

At the heart of today’s agreement is a new and more ambitious partnership between Newfoundland and Labrador and Québec to develop Gull Island, the most promising hydroelectric site in North America and arguably in the world. A project that has been waiting in the wings for far too long.

It will be carried out by Hydro-Québec, and by the engineers and workers who have made Québec a global leader in hydroelectric power.

These are massive new sources of power, combined with a state-of-the-art transmission network between Churchill Falls, Gull Island, Labrador and Québec – that will heat, light, and cool our communities, and power our growing economy.

Today’s announcement will also unlock the potential of the Labrador Trough, which contains some of the highest-grade iron ore and graphite deposits on the planet.

To that end, the Government of Canada is announcing today that we’re referring the Labrador Trough to the Major Projects Office.

So, what we have together is Canada’s most significant opportunity to connect clean electricity, mining development, transportation infrastructure, processing capacity, and export networks into a single integrated economic corridor.

Through the First and Last Mile Fund, Canada will help finance several major strategic projects right out of the gate in the Labrador Trough, including:

• The Labrador West Transmission Expansion Study to connect critical minerals mining operations in western Labrador to this new electricity grid.
• Focus Graphite’s mining projects, which will help supply the battery and energy storage technologies this country and our allies need.
• The Kami mine, which will provide Canadian iron ore to the global steel supply chain just as the world is looking for new suppliers it can trust.
• SFP Pointe-Noire’s project to expand critical minerals handling capacity and all the related rail infrastructure.

Clean power to run sustainable, modern mines.

Transmission lines to bring power to where it is needed.

Ports to move graphite and iron ore to market.

Each investment unlocks the others, underscoring the value of all moving together.

The projects launched today represent a total financial commitment of approximately $70 billion – the largest single investment in Canada’s history.

The projects we are announcing today will create more than 23,000 well-paying jobs for Canadian workers in the construction phase alone. Jobs in engineering. Jobs in the skilled trades. Jobs for welders, machinists, and technicians. Together, these projects will add $31 billion to Canada’s GDP by the early 2040s.

Projects that will build a stronger, more resilient, and more sustainable Canada.

Projects that will enable Canadians to be masters of their own future.

We are living through the consequences of a world that, collectively, hasn’t taken climate change seriously enough.

Canada will do our part – not with promises and pronouncements – but with bold actions and major investments.

The most cost-effective way, by far, to reduce emissions is through the electrification of our industries, transportation, and buildings. An ambitious electrification policy can cut emissions by up to five times the emissions currently generated by the electricity sector.

That is why Canada will double its production of clean electricity. To meet the growing demand for electricity of our industries. To lower energy costs. And to protect the environment that our children will inherit.

Today’s announcement will produce enough clean electricity to power every car, every truck, every motorcycle, and every bus in Canada.

This is one of a series of initiatives that the Government of Canada is supporting – helping Canadians electrify their homes, helping to put more zero-emission vehicles on the road, and to make generational investments in clean energy – and we are just getting started.

Today’s agreement demonstrates how we can reach new horizons, together.

It exists because of the leaders of these two great provinces – it exists because of the leadership of Premier Wakeham and Premier Fréchette. Their leadership, their vision, their focus on results. They sat down and worked through the difficult issues.

It exists because they shared ambitions, and they could see and forge common ground.

It exists because the Innu Nation of Labrador will be a true partner, with a real economic stake in all of its success.

It exists because the federal government is uniting with these partnerships, following their leadership, working together to make cooperative federalism work for a more prosperous, resilient, and sustainable Canada.

I encourage all the leaders to learn from this example, to be inspired by this vision, execution, and focus – inspired by the example of these two premiers. To choose collaboration. To choose to lower barriers. To choose to build one strong, united Canadian economy that works for all Canadians.

Mastering energy means mastering our destiny.

We are strengthening our leadership in clean, reliable, and affordable electricity produced here at home in Canada.

Building big, building fast, building in partnership.

This is how we will “make the weather.”

We will meet tomorrow’s challenges.

Building clean. Building resilient.

That is how we will address a changing climate.

This is Canada resilient. This is Canada sustainable. This is Canada strong.